Ratatouille - oven recipe, cooking features and reviews

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

What is ratatouille? What are the recipes for this dish? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. Many are not indifferent to the dishes of French cuisine. However, some do not know how to cook them at home, others do not know where to purchase all the necessary components. And still others are simply afraid that their family will not like the result.

Ratatouille is a French dish that is prepared very simply, does not have a pronounced exotic taste and consists of affordable products. In fact, this is an ordinary vegetable stew, only made according to a special recipe. Let's look at some ways to create ratatouille below.

A bit of history

It is known that since the 18th century ratatouille has been a common meal of the poor peasants of France, who could not afford meat. That is why the name of the dish is translated as "bad food", although in reality ratatouille is very tasty and satisfying.

The Spaniards call the identical dish pista, the Italians - caponata, the Hungarians - lecho, and for us ratatouille - vegetable stew. And yet this appetizer hassome of the features of creation, thanks to which it is considered an aristocratic dish worthy of decorating the menu of any restaurant in Europe.

The recipe for a real peasant ratatouille is quite simple - all the vegetables are stewed together, and there should be enough of them to have enough for the next day. Today there are many recipes for creating ratatouille. However, the original recipe did not involve a large number of complex cooking techniques. After all, the peasants had no time to grind and roast vegetables. And even more so the creation of the sauce. And not everyone had ovens in the villages.

Modern chefs in the process of creating this dish show miracles of ingenuity and each time they get a new dish.

Production Features

Few know the recipe for ratatouille. If you want this dish to look delicious and appetizing, not turn into a simple vegetable stew, you need to take into account the following points when creating it:

• Use only fresh vegetables to create ratatouille: canned and frozen are not suitable for this. Initially, the recipe included only onions, zucchini, sweet peppers and tomatoes. Later, garlic was added to them, and then eggplant. Ratatouille, made from the listed components, is considered a classic. However, today there are other variations of the recipe, when it includes minced meat, other vegetables, cheese, rice, meat, and so on.
• Tomatoes choose not overripe, hard, as soft ones will be cut evenlydifficult.
• The classic method involves creating ratatouille by roasting vegetables. However, often today this dish is cooked in a skillet. Vegetables in this case are stewed.
• Ratatouille is easy to cook. But the ideal dish is considered to be where all the vegetables are peeled. And this is a rather painstaking process.
• To make the dish beautiful, cut all the vegetables for it into identical pieces in shape and size. Many of them are cut into circles and, alternating, laid out in a form. You can overlap or put the mugs on edge - in the form in the latter case, more vegetables are placed. You can cut vegetables into cubes. They must be large so that the food does not transform into a shapeless mass.
• Eggplant and zucchini choose young, without large seeds.
• Use the Provence Herbs complex additive, which will give the dish a French flavor. If you do not have it, use dried spices: rosemary, thyme, mint, basil, fennel and cumin, mixed in an arbitrary proportion.
• Try not to pre-cook the ratatouille, as the vegetables may turn pale due to the acid in the tomatoes. As a result, the dish will lose its unusual taste and attractive appearance.

Classic dish

Consider the classic ratatouille recipe. So, we take:

• 100g onion;
• 200 g sweet pepper;
• 0.6 kg tomatoes;
• 5 cloves of garlic;
• 250 g zucchini;
• Provencal herbs (to taste);
• olive oil (how much will it take);
• 250g eggplant (optional);
• pepper,s alt.

How to cook?

This classic ratatouille recipe calls for these steps:

1. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes. After two minutes, take them out of the water and peel them.
2. Cut a third of the tomatoes into small cubes.
3. Wash peppers, remove seeds, cut into small squares.
4. Peel and finely chop the onion.
5. In a heated pan with olive oil, send peppers, tomatoes and onions. First, fry for 5 minutes over low heat, then lower the heat and simmer the vegetable mixture for 15 minutes under the lid. In the end, you should get a not too thick sauce. S alt and pepper it to your liking.
6. Pour the sauce into the form in which you will bake the vegetables. It is desirable that it be round and have a diameter of up to 28 cm.
7. Peel the eggplant and zucchini with a vegetable peeler.
8. Sprinkle the eggplant with s alt and set aside for 20 minutes. Then wash off the s alt, dry the vegetable with a cloth.
9. Cut the eggplant and zucchini into 0.8 cm thick slices. Cut the remaining tomatoes in the same way.
10. Vegetables, alternating, put in a form with sauce: zucchini, tomato, eggplant, then zucchini again and so on, until the vegetables run out.
11. Pass the garlic through the press, add herbs to it, add two tablespoons of olive oil, stir. Pour this mixture over the vegetables.
12. Bake the vegetables for one hour in the oven at 180°C until softened.

You can serve the dish to the table in the form and only then lay it out onplates. You can also cook ratatouille in several small forms at once and serve it in portions. In this case, the containers should not be too hot.

Ratatouille from the cartoon of the same name

Let's study another interesting ratatouille recipe. Take:

• 700g tomatoes;
• 70 ml olive oil;
• 140 g zucchini;
• 100g onion;
• 140g zucchini;
• three cloves of garlic;
• eggplant - 140 g;
• 300 g bell pepper (various colors);
• one bay leaf;
• 20 ml balsamic vinegar;
• 20g Provence herbs;
• sprig of fresh parsley;
• s alt (to taste);
• a pinch of ground thyme;
• ground black pepper;
• sprig of fresh thyme.

This ratatouille recipe stipulates the implementation of the following actions:

1. Wash sweet pepper, cut lengthwise, remove seeds. Line a baking sheet with foil and brush with oil. Lay the pepper halves cut side down. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven at 240°C.
2. Next, peel the onion, cut into small pieces.
3. Chop two cloves of garlic with a knife.
4. Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, remove the skin from them. Cut 300g tomatoes into small cubes.
5. Heat a frying pan with 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil. Add garlic and onion. Fry over moderate heat until they change color.
6. Tomatoes add and reduce the fire. Top with sprigs of parsley and thyme, bay leaf, addground thyme. Simmer the tomatoes in a covered skillet for 15 minutes.
7. Remove the roasted peppers from the oven, cool and peel off the skin. Cut into small pieces and pour in the sauce. Simmer for another five minutes. Remove parsley, thyme and bay leaf.
8. Beat the vegetable mass with a blender. Set aside a tablespoon of sauce, put the rest in a baking dish.
9. Skin the zucchini, zucchini and eggplant. Cut into circles 0.5 cm thick. Do the same with tomatoes. Arrange vegetables, alternating, in a dish.
10. Chop a clove of garlic with a knife, combine with s alt, herbs, pepper, reserved sauce and remaining oil. Pour in the balsamic vinegar, stir.
11. Pour sauce over vegetables, cover with foil and place in the oven.
12. Bake ratatouille for an hour and a half at 160 ° C, then remove the foil and bake for another half hour. If the dish starts to burn on top, replace the foil.

Professionals refer to this dish as haute cuisine.

In a frying pan

So, you already know how to cook ratatouille. Consider the following recipe. You will need:

• 400 g zucchini;
• tomatoes - 300 g;
• 50g fresh parsley;
• 200g onion;
• 200g eggplant;
• leeks - one stalk;
• hot pepper pod;
• 400 g sweet red pepper;
• seasonings, s alt (to taste);
• lean oil (as needed).

This homemade ratatouille recipegreat. Do the following:

1. Wash vegetables and pat dry.
2. Cut the leeks into slices, the rest of the vegetables into cubes about 1.5 cm high. Scald the tomatoes with boiling water and peel them.
3. Fry the onion (both types) in hot oil for 7 minutes, then send the rest of the vegetables to the pan. Simmer them covered for 20 minutes.
4. Remove seeds from hot pepper, grind it in a blender. Chop the parsley with a knife. Combine parsley, s alt, pepper, seasonings, stir and send to vegetables.
5. Simmer food for another 10 minutes.

With pasta

Recipes for home-made ratatouille, we continue to consider further. So, wash and cut into cubes one eggplant, one onion, a couple of squash and red hot peppers. Grind half a kilo of tomatoes in a blender along with fresh basil.

Put the eggplant and onion into the mold, add a couple of tbsp. l. olive oil, s alt and pepper. Bake vegetables at 200°C for 15 minutes. Next, add squash, pepper and another tablespoon of oil to them. Pepper again, s alt and put in the oven for another half hour.

Meanwhile, boil pasta (450 g), boil tomato puree with crushed garlic clove, boil over low heat for 4 minutes. Combine baked vegetables with sauce and pasta, stir.

Sprinkle the finished ratatouille with grated Parmesan (100 g) and enjoy a gourmet dish.

With cheese

We invite you to get acquainted with the reciperatatouille with cheese. In a blender, chop the onion (1 pc.), Tomato (1 pc.), Bulgarian pepper (1 pc.), Oregano and basil. Next, send pepper, s alt, olive oil (1 tablespoon) to the vegetable mass, simmer for 10 minutes.

Cut 2 zucchini, 2 eggplants and 2 tomatoes into thin circles. Pour the prepared sauce into a mold, lay out the prepared vegetables in layers like this: first make a layer of zucchini, then tomatoes, then lay out the eggplant. Sprinkle everything on top with sliced Adyghe cheese (150 g) and again make a layer of zucchini.

Next, s alt, pepper, pour olive oil and send to the oven. According to this recipe, ratatouille in the oven should be baked at 200 ° C for 45 minutes. Cover the dish with foil before cooking. Then remove it and bake the vegetables for another half an hour.

With garlic and cheese

Consider another recipe for ratatouille, baked in the oven with cheese. It is no different from the usual. By the way, if you take suluguni instead of Adyghe cheese, the food will turn out even tastier. To make the sauce you will need:

• three tomatoes;
• two cloves of garlic;
• one bulb;
• one red bell pepper;
• pepper;
• s alt;
• Italian herbs (to taste).

Basic components:

• 250 g of Adyghe cheese;
• two zucchini;
• two eggplants;
• three tomatoes.

This ratatouille recipe is implemented step by step as followsway:

1. Make the sauce first. To do this, finely chop the onion, squeeze the garlic through the press, stew everything until golden brown.
2. Pepper and tomatoes through a meat grinder, combine with onions, add herbs, s alt, pepper and simmer for another 7 minutes.
3. Cut the vegetables into rings. Pour the sauce into the mold, alternately fold the cheese and vegetables. The sauce should reach halfway up the mold. If it is not enough, add boiled water.
4. Sprinkle olive oil on top, sprinkle with herbs and s alt.
5. Cover with parchment or foil, put in the oven at 190°C for 40 minutes.
6. Next, remove the foil, lower the heat to 180 ° C and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown.

French soup

And what is the recipe for ratatouille soup? The first mention of this dish refers to the city of Nice. It was prepared from zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic, mainly in families with low incomes. Gradually, eggplant began to be added to vegetables. This dish is he althy and tasty, suitable for many as a diet. So, we take:

• three bell peppers;
• three durum tomatoes;
• young eggplant without seeds;
• three soft tomatoes for sauce;
• zucchini or zucchini;
• 4 garlic cloves;
• three onions;
• bunch of fresh herbs;
• lean oil for frying;
• s alt;
• black pepper;
• spicy seasonings (cumin, thyme, rosemary);
• 1 hot pepper (for seasoning).

The ratatouille soup recipe calls for the following steps:

1. Peel the eggplant, cut into circles, s alt and leave for three minutes. You can also fill it with s alt water, which will turn brown after a while. As a result, bitterness will come out of the eggplant.
2. Bake bell peppers in the oven or on the stovetop. Then put it in a plastic bag to make the tough skin come off easier. After five minutes, peel the pepper from seeds and skin, cut into cubes.
3. Cut zucchini or zucchini into large cubes, send to a hot pan and fry in oil.
4. Rinse the eggplant, wring it out, pat dry with a cloth and cut into cubes, stew over low heat.
5. Finely chop the garlic (two cloves) and onion, fry.
6. Make cruciform cuts on the tomatoes, dip in boiling water. Then quickly remove, remove the skin, chop coarsely and send to the onion. Extinguish everything to the same type.
7. Here all components are fried separately. Next, mix everything, add spices, chopped herbs and garlic, s alt, pepper. Send everything to a hot pan with vegetable oil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Ratatouille, made in this way, gives a large amount of juice. That is why it is like soup. Serve this dish cold or hot with chicken or on its own.

Reviews

Those housewives who know how to cook ratatouille say that their loved ones really like this dish. They claim that this masterpiece is eaten very quickly. One liked the ratatouille recipe, in the ovenmade, others admire the soup.

Many of this beautiful dish is often served on the festive table. These people claim that they have never tasted anything tastier. By the way, some vegetarians eat this dish every day. Prepare this amazing ratatouille too!